New Missouri “squatters law” led to brothers’ wrongful eviction, lawyer says

John-Thomas Favron and his brother Robert were at home on Cleveland Avenue in the city’s Shaw neighborhood last week when sheriff’s deputies showed up at their door. They were there to evict them from the home where they’d lived for nearly three decades—seemingly with no warning. 

“My girlfriend told me that there are people outside. She said they’re pointing at the house,” John-Thomas recalled. At the deputies’ suggestion, John-Thomas grabbed some clothes, while Robert focused on wrangling his two dogs. 

Up until then, they’d spent most of their lives in Shaw. They went to St. Margaret of Scotland School. Robert said that even during periods when he lived elsewhere in St. Louis, he always came back to do housework or visit his mom.

For a week now they’ve been crashing with friends or staying at hotels, at a cost of about $1,000 a week—thanks to a new Missouri law that makes evictions easier. It’s been called a “squatters law.” But the Favron brothers were not squatting, at least not in any way that you might conceive of squatting. The house on Cleveland has been in the Favron family for three decades since the brothers’ mom, Virginia Coates Favron, bought it in September 1995.

Nearly 30 years later, in November of last year, Virginia was suffering from terminal cancer when she executed a trust naming the two brothers and their sisters as its sole beneficiaries. Two other relatives, the brothers’ aunts, were appointed as co-trustees to help administer the trust. Virginia passed away this January. 

But one of those co-trustees sold the house to Coca Properties for $190,000 on August 28. That’s despite the fact that the city’s own assessor, which tends to lowball property values, put the house at $251,000.

On the exact same day that Coca Properties bought the house—at the exact same second, in fact, according to city records—Coca sold it to Golden Eye Management LLC for $300,000. St. Louis-based Golden Eye bills itself as an entity that buys houses for cash. 

On that same day, Golden Eye took out a mortgage on the house for $463,500.

One day later, Darrell Perkins filed an eviction lawsuit, writing, “My company Goldeneye Management LLC closed on the purchase of 3928 Cleveland Ave on 8/28/25. I sent one of my construction team over to change the locks. They informed me that there were squatters on the property.”

Those “squatters” were the brothers. 

Hear more about this story from Ryan Krull on The 314 Podcast.

On September 3, sheriff’s deputies showed up and removed the brothers—their first inkling that, days before, a family member had sold the house out from under them. 

That eviction was made possible because of a state law passed last year intended to deal with the difficulties property owners had removing squatters from their properties. Previously, even if someone was squatting in a property, they still had to receive notice of the eviction and have a chance to show up in court. Squatters could dodge service and drag things out in myriad other ways. Now, eviction proceedings can happen ex parte, meaning the alleged squatter doesn’t even need to be notified. 

“The big problem now is that you can say anyone is a squatter,” says attorney Javad Khazaeli. He is representing the brothers. He’s also their neighbor and was close friends to their mom. “I am doing this because I have righteous indignation.”

In the case of the Favron brothers, Khazaeli says, no due diligence was done to figure out if they were squatting or if they had a right to be in the house. He also wonders how it could have been determined in less than 24 hours that the brothers were squatting.

Khazaeli entered on the case late Tuesday and filed a counterclaim, just in time for a Wednesday morning hearing. Perkins represented himself. 

The hearing played out in front of Judge Michael Dauphin. Khazaeli’s argument focused on legal requirements, not moral outrage: He alleged that the eviction was improperly filed because Perkins filed it in his own name, while Golden Eye Management LLC is the actual owner. 

Dauphin agreed, saying that in order to sue, “You got to have the proper party doing the suing.” He directed Perkins to return the keys to the brothers by 5 p.m. and that they be allowed to stay in the house until this all gets ironed out. 

Khazaeli plans to make sure it goes his client’s way. He believes the brothers are entitled to damages, Khazaeli says. He also hopes to figure out through depositions why the house was sold at a price $60,000 less than its assessed value. No one is alleging that Perkins acted fraudulently in buying the house. The murkiness is around the co-trustee who is the aunt of the brothers—the house’s seller. Perkins said that he was told this aunt informed the brothers on August 2 that the house would be sold. The brothers tell SLM their aunt has been telling them the house has been sold since November of last year. In a situation like this it’s not uncommon for a co-trustee to arrange the sale of a house, but they are supposed to remain in close communication with the beneficiary, who receive the proceeds of the sale. 

Khazaeli thinks it may also be possible to challenge the new eviction law through this case. He said during the hearing that safeguards are too easily tossed aside through just one sentence: “You are squatters.”

At yesterday’s hearing, Dauphin referred to the new law pertaining to evictions as “a process that has come under scrutiny.” He gave no indication that Perkins had abused it, but said to him about this case: “It’s bigger than you, to an extent.” 

Outside the courthouse, the two brothers said they are interested in starting a cannabis cultivation business with an eye to offering natural pain relief to people dealing with cancer, like their mom did. Asked what they’re most excited to be re-united with later today when they get back into the house on Cleveland, they said there were some sentimental items from their mom as well as paperwork they hope might be useful in this very case.